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Brian Cook
|} Brian Joshua Cook is an American professional basketball player, last playing for the Utah Jazz. Early life Cook was born on December 4, 1980, in Lincoln, Illinois. His father, Norman Cook, played collegiate basketball at the University of Kansas (1974–76) and professionally for the Boston Celtics (1979–80). Brian played high school basketball at Lincoln High School in central Illinois. He led his high school team, the Lincoln Community High School Railsplitters, to the quarterfinals of the Illinois High School Association class AA state boys basketball tournament. He was selected to the 1998 State Farm Holiday Classic all-tournament team and was a 1999 McDonald's All American. College He was recruited by Lon Kruger to play power forward for the Illinois Fighting Illini, making him the third consecutive Illinois Mr. Basketball to sign with Illinois, following the lead of Sergio McClain (1997) and Frank Williams (1998). Cook ultimately played 132 games in four years at the University of Illinois, most of them under coach Bill Self, and led the Illini in rebounding in each season. A 6'10" forward, Cook was a versatile scorer from both inside and outside the paint, utilizing his height to score in the post and hitting three-point shots when left open. This helped him to earn co Big Ten Freshman of the year honors during his first year at Illinois. As a senior in the 2002-03 season, Cook led the Fighting Illini in scoring with 20.0 points per game, and received the Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball as the Most Valuable Player of the Big Ten Conference. That same season, Cook was named Second-Team All-American by The Sporting News, and Third-Team All-American by the Associated Press, the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and The Basketball Times, as well as Big Ten Player of the Year and First-Team All-Big Ten by both the coaches and the media. Cook helped lead the Illini to a number one seed in the 2001 NCAA Tournament, and the Illini cruised to the Elite 8, where they were upset in a hard fought and controversial game by Cook's future teammate Luke Walton and the Arizona Wildcats. Cook was projected to be a top 10 draft pick in the NBA Draft, but ultimately slipped to the L.A. Lakers 24th pick. Cook left Illinois as the school's third all-time leading scorer with 1748 total points, at an average of 13.2 points per game, behind Deon Thomas and Kiwane Garris. Cook was elected to the "Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team" in 2004. Professional Career Cook played sparingly in his rookie campaign as a backup to superstar center Shaquille O'Neal, and mostly was an interior player, notching only five three-point attempts out of 141 total field goal attempts. As his professional career evolved, however, Cook once again became a player who could play beyond the perimeter, after Shaq moved on to the Miami Heat and Rudy Tomjanovich took over for Phil Jackson as Lakers' head coach. He was mainly used as a three-point specialist; 199 of 422 (or 47.2%) of Cook's field goal attempts were from behind the three-point arc. When Phil Jackson returned to coach the Lakers in 2005-06, Cook shot from the perimeter less often, which resulted in Cook improving his overall field-goal percentage from .417 in 2004-05 to .520 in 2005-06, and also resulted in an improvement in his three-point field-goal percentage, from .392 in 2004-05 to .441 in 2005-06. His improved play kept Cook on the court more as his minutes played per game rose from 15.1 in 2004-05 to 19.4 in 2005-06. On November 20, 2007, he along with teammate Maurice Evans were traded to the Orlando Magic in exchange for Trevor Ariza. On February 19, 2009, Cook was traded to the Houston Rockets in a three-team trade involving the Memphis Grizzlies and Orlando Magic. On February 20, 2010, Cook was waived by the Rockets. On July 9, 2010, Cook was signed by the Los Angeles Clippers. On March 15, 2012, the Clippers sent Cook and a 2015 second round pick to the Washington Wizards for Nick Young. On October 28, 2012, the Wizards waived Cook. In 2013, Cook joined the Piratas de Quebradillas of Puerto Rico. On September 30, 2013, he signed with the Utah Jazz. He was later waived by the Jazz on October 26. Personal On July 4, 2009, Cook married his long-time girlfriend, Victoria Velasquez. NBA Career Stats Regular season |- | align="left" | 2003 | align="left" | L.A. Lakers | 35 || 2 || 12.6 || .475 || .000 || .750 || 2.9 || .6 || .5 || .5 || 4.4 |- | align="left" | 2004 | align="left" | L.A. Lakers | 72 || 0 || 15.1 || .417 || .392 || .757 || 3.0 || .5 || .3 || .4 || 6.4 |- | align="left" | 2005 | align="left" | L.A. Lakers | 81 || 46 || 19.0 || .511 || .429 || .832 || 3.4 || .9 || .5 || .4 || 7.9 |- | align="left" | 2006 | align="left" | L.A. Lakers | 65 || 24 || 15.7 || .453 || .400 || .723 || 3.3 || 1.0 || .4 || .4 || 6.9 |- | align="left" | 2007 | align="left" | L.A. Lakers | 6 || 2 || 11.7 || .190 || .200 || 1.000 || 1.7 || .5 || .3 || .0 || 2.3 |- | align="left" | 2007 | align="left" | Orlando | 45 || 0 || 12.4 || .394 || .390 || .882 || 2.2 || .5 || .2 || .3 || 5.0 |- | align="left" | 2008 | align="left" | Orlando | 21 || 0 || 7.0 || .383 || .440 || .833 || 1.3 || .2 || .1 || .0 || 3.0 |- | align="left" | 2008 | align="left" | Houston | 9 || 0 || 2.8 || .313 || .400 || -- || .6 || .1 || .0 || .3 || 1.3 |- | align="left" | 2009 | align="left" | Houston | 15 || 0 || 2.9 || .304 || .222 || .714 || .6 || .1 || .0 || .1 || 1.4 |- | align="left" | 2010 | align="left" | L.A. Clippers | 40 || 0 || 11.2 || .424 || .430 || .625 || 2.4 || .4 || .3 || .3 || 4.8 |- | align="left" | 2011 | align="left" | L.A. Clippers | 16 || 0 || 7.6 || .224 || .185 || 1.000 || 1.4 || .1 || .1 || .3 || 1.9 |- | align="left" | 2011 | align="left" | Washington | 16 || 0 || 9.7 || .408 || .217 || .833 || 2.5 || .5 || .3 || .1 || 3.1 |- | align="left" | Career | align="left" | | 421 || 74 || 13.4 || .439 || .382 || .783 || 2.6 || .6 || .3 || .3 || 5.5 Playoffs |- | align="left" | 2004 | align="left" | L.A. Lakers | 13 || 0 || 3.5 || .333 || -- || 1.000 || .9 || .1 || .1 || .0 || .9 |- | align="left" | 2006 | align="left" | L.A. Lakers | 7 || 0 || 11.1 || .391 || .364 || 1.000 || 3.1 || 1.1 || .1 || .0 || 6.3 |- | align="left" | 2007 | align="left" | L.A. Lakers | 5 || 0 || 10.2 || .333 || .429 || 1.000 || 1.2 || .0 || .0 || .2 || 3.6 |- | align="left" | 2009 | align="left" | Houston | 6 || 0 || 5.3 || .267 || .222 || -- || 2.0 || .5 || .3 || .2 || 1.7 |- | align="left" | Career | align="left" | | 31 || 0 || 6.7 || .351 || .333 || 1.000 || 1.7 || .4 || .1 || .1 || 2.7 See Also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Cook Category:Born in 1980 Category:American basketball players Category:National Basketball Association players Category:Drafted by Los Angeles Lakers Category:Los Angeles Lakers players Category:Orlando Magic players Category:Houston Rockets players Category:Los Angeles Clippers players Category:Washington Wizards players Category:Piratas de Quebradillas players Category:Players who wear/wore number 7 Category:Players who wear/wore number 43 Category:Players who wear/wore number 34